Don't Speak
by sean and dammy
Summary: The Winchesters pull into town to investigate the deaths of three people. Even to their trained eyes, the case turns up no leads...until they meet Claire Martin and her unusual family.
1. Chapter 1

ONE

When their most recent hunts turned-up no viable suspects, clues or anything even remotely helpful to work from, Sam and Dean Winchester turned to 'Bon Appétit' for solstice. It wasn't their first choice in venue, usually they ate at less fancy diners or even grabbed a few chicken strips at a bar counter, but, for now, it would do.

Dean chowed down on a plate of ribs, marinated in some kind of red sauce that had stained both Dean's face and his nice white shirt. Thankfully, Sam thought, he had his brown leather jacket to cover up the stain when they left. Sam had a much healthier salad. He'd chosen it, not because he'd wanted a salad, but because most of the menu was in French and he'd had no idea what half of the meals were.

The only good thing about the place, they agreed, was that the waitress who was serving them, Claire, was the hottest thing since global warming and, as an added plus, she spoke English. She'd been by a few times to check on them and make sure everything was fine, giving the brothers ample chances to check her out and make up reasons to get her number.

Dean was beyond surprised that Sam was actively participating in the conversation. He usually wasn't the type to share his tastes with his brother and joke around about getting numbers, but tonight, he was doing it.

Sam and Dean both swallowed their meals hastily to clear their mouths as blonde haired, green eyed Claire made her fifth round to their table that evening. She smiled pleasantly and checked their plates before speaking.

"You two okay over here?"

"We're very okay, thanks," Dean smiled back, kicking Sam under the table just for fun.

Sam nudged back, but looked up to smile at her too as if they weren't playing footsie under the table.

"This window isn't bothering you?" Claire gestured towards the window behind their table; on the other side of which there was the parking lot, but nothing could be seen outside because it was so dark.

Sam and Dean shook their pretty heads in unison.

"That's funny. Usually clients who sit here complain about a breeze, but I guess you're fine."

Dean chuckled, "Guys like us don't feel breezes; it's a manly thing."

Claire nodded in understanding to the statement, but she was staring absently at the salt shaker on their table, as if her thoughts were somewhere else. Sam didn't blame her, Dean's awkward chitchat was just enough to set the poor girl to sleep. He smirked, but Dean cast a shrug in Sam's direction as Claire continued to stare and become unresponsive.

"Was it something I said?" Dean whispered across the table, but before Sam could respond in any way, Claire snapped back to attention.

She chuckled, "Oh, it's not you. That salt shaker is just really out of proportion with everything else on the table. It should be a little to the left, don't you think? I hate it when stuff gets moved around."

Dean raised an eyebrow, "My fault. I like salt on my potatoes."

Claire chuckled again, "Not a problem. I'll fix it."

With that she turned and walked away, her hips swaying in the neat black pencil skirt she was wearing and Sam admired the walk as Dean mulled over the awkward scene that had just happened in his head.

"So what are the chances of claiming her number before her shift is up, you think?" Sam asked finally, turning back towards his brother. He pushed his salad off to the side; he wasn't that fond of eggs in with his lettuce and tomatoes anyway. That was when he noticed the wary expression on Dean's face.

"What?"

"That was weird, wasn't it?"

"What was weird?"

Dean gestured to where Claire had disappeared behind the 'Employees Only' door, "Her. Claire. That conversation that we just had."

Sam shook his head, "You're just bummed she didn't ask you for your number first."

"Enough about numbers, we've only got five minutes until she's out of here anyway, but what about that obsession with the salt?"

"The salt shakers, if I remember correctly," Sam leaned just a little over the table, "What's up with you? A second ago you were normal."

"A few minutes ago so was she, or was I just imagining her interest in coming over to check on our table?"

"You didn't imagine that, she came over five times. I counted."

"That's more than usual, right?" Dean seemed to be counting his fingers for some reason.

"More than would usually be polite if we were on a date or something. What are you getting at?"

"She didn't even fix the salt shaker after she said she-" Dean looked at the salt shaker with sudden astonishment. "Wait a second – this can't be right."

"What can't be right?" Sam asked, suddenly finding Dean's distress about the whole situation very amusing.

"The salt shaker was on the right last time I looked. I swear, two minutes ago, before she came, the shaker was on the right and now it's on the left!"

"You're exaggerating,"

"No, I'm not. Sam, you and I have seen enough supernatural things in our lives to notice if a salt shaker suddenly moved from one side of the table to the other. It's just not natural."

"Neither is this entire restaurant, the menu is in French, but that didn't stop us-"

"Exactly, something's going on here. I felt it the moment we met that girl."

"Claire?"

"Yes, there's something weird about her."

Sam rolled his eyes, "Oh boy, here we go."

Sam had known his brother long enough to know that when a hunt wasn't going the way Dean wanted it to and they couldn't find any of the evidence or information they needed, he'd use whatever coincidence or 'weird' experience to try and solve the case that way. Suddenly every leaf on the ground and waitress in a random restaurant they'd chosen was involved.

"Seriously, Sam. Think about it. We don't usually come in restaurants like this, do we? It had to be some sort of magic that brought us here, of all places."

"Magic?"

"Don't poo on magic, you know as well as I do that there are some sickos out there that believe in the supernatural as much as we do."

"So we're the reason behind all the strange things going on here? The pastor's death and the girl and boy dead in the park?" Sam changed his mind about the salad and picked a white piece of lettuce out to chew on while Dean explained.

"No, Sam, not us," Dean looked at his little brother like he had suddenly grown a second head, "witches."

"Witches are behind this?"

"Yes."

"And you're coming to this conclusion because-?"

"Because of the upside-down triangle symbol with a line through it carved on the victims foreheads, the sudden increase in rich people living on the outskirts of this town and -"

"The salt shaker moving from the left of the table to the right," Sam finished in a sceptical tone, although he tried to keep it out.

"The right to the left, Sammy, keep up," Dean looked annoyed, so Sam dropped the attitude.

"Alright, so you think that, somehow, Claire's a witch."

"Anyone could be a witch," Dean glanced warily around the restaurant, scanning every person for any signs of someone eavesdropping on their conversation, or maybe a green face or a conical black hat atop of someone's head.

Sam sighed and leaned back in his seat, "You're right on one account, we never considered witches and it does sound like it could be-"

"An exact match," Dean was gathering his coat from the seat beside him and pulling it on over his sauce-stained shirt.

"Where are you going?" Sam grabbed his own light brown jacket, but only clutched it in his hands before he knew what was going on.

"We're going to follow Claire," Dean said as if it were the most obvious thing they could do this rainy and pitch-black Thursday night. It wasn't as if they needed to get any sleep or anything.

Sam shook his head to himself. The only way to get Dean off this hunch of his was to let him ride it out. What harm would it do? Follow Claire back to her house, watch her until they were sure that nothing witchy was going on and then Dean realize that he was being paranoid and drawing lines where there weren't any and all would be back to normal. Or as normal as things could be for the Winchesters.

Leaving fifty dollars on the table, and pouting over the large sum of money he'd just spent on food (possibly the largest in his life in one sitting), Sam followed his brother outside into the drizzling rain. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark, but Dean seemed to have his night vision turned on because he was making a quick beeline for the Impala without a pause.

In the corner of his eye, Sam caught a glimpse of movement to his left. He turned quickly and saw, in the distance, the side door of the restaurant open up and Claire step out. She was out of her red and black restaurant uniform, and was now wearing casual jeans and a pink sweater, which she pulled tightly around herself as she ran to a blue Volvo.

A Volvo, huh? Sam furrowed his brow thoughtfully. Maybe she was a part of this.

"Sam! What are you waiting for?" Dean called from the open window of the Impala's driver's seat, "Get a move on, we're going to lose her!"

She was already backing out of her parking space and taking off down a dark back alley away from the restaurant when Sam finally took the front passenger's seat and had barely shut the door before Dean stepped on the gas after her.

"So it's your professional opinion that these witches are ritually sacrificing people to get rich?" Sam clarified, once he'd securely done up his seat belt.

Dean was leaned forward, chest to the steering wheel. Sam guessed it was because he was straining to see out the window past the rain and without the head lights. The lights would just give them away, if the sound of Dean's grumbling didn't.

"What?"

"What? Nothing," Dean answered back, and then Sam's previous statement sunk in, "We've seen some pretty sketchy spells before. Why not a ritual sacrifice to keep rich? We've seen worse and we know there are people out there who'll do anything for money." He shuddered, probably remembering their special friend, Bella.

Sam wanted to shudder too, but he was too busy gripping the dashboard with white knuckles as the car bounced on the uneven ground. Was it just him or were the buildings on either side of the narrow alley closing in on them?

"You don't believe me?" Dean said and Sam shook his head vigorously.

"No, I believe you. It sounds fine, I mean not the whole ritual sacrifice thing, but it sounds plausible. It's just your driving I'm worried about right now. You can't go one a hundred and _twenty_ miles an hour down an remarkably narrow alley?"

Dean caught the sarcastic note in that statement and eased up on the gas pedal immediately. Claire wasn't that far ahead of them now anyway. Dean gave his brother a sheepish glance, but Sam wasn't going to hold it over him.

They fell silent together and followed the Volvo, out of the alley and down the dark streets of the small town, until Claire parked it, near the curb, in front of a blue paneled house with two expensive cars already taking up the driveway. Sam suspected that there was probably another fancy car holed up inside the garage, but it was closed for now, so he couldn't be sure.

Dean hung back a few feet as Claire exited the car and collected her purse and uniform in her hands before locking it behind her. In her black heels, she clicked her way quickly up the stone walkway to the front door of the blue house. Dean drove closer and saw another woman, also blonde, answer the door and let Claire in, closing the door behind them.

"They look normal enough," Sam said, eyeing the closed door.

Dean pulled up behind Claire's car and parked the Impala there, "So do they all."

"How do you plan on finding out if she's a witch or not? She's obviously got company."

"Well, Sammy," Dean swung the car door open with a smile, "There's only one way to find out."

With that, he left the car, shut the door quietly behind him and carefully started creeping up the grass to the blue house, the silver gun in his belt strap gleaming in the moonlight.


	2. Chapter 2

TWO

Sam felt no choice but to leave the car himself, and sneak quietly to the house behind his brother. He really hoped that they wouldn't have to use their guns, but he saw Dean's hand reach back and carefully take his weapon from his belt strap. Sam tiptoed quickly and quietly as possible until he was at Dean's side and held him back by his shoulder.

Dean gave Sam a "what'd you do that for?" look.

Sam put a finger to his lips and then cupped a hand around his ear. It took him a second, but Dean finally understood that Sam wanted him to listen.

There were voices, at least four distinctive ones, coming from the room beside the front door. The light was on in the window and shadows were moving beyond the peachy curtains, clearly there were more people on this stake out than they'd anticipated.

"Maybe it's a slumber party," Dean shrugged with a grin. All the voices were female after all, so Sam shrugged back. It wasn't impossible.

Even as they inched closer and closer to the window, they could never quite make out what the voices were saying to each other. It was very frustrating, Sam thought. He didn't usually make it a habit to eavesdrop on other people's conversations, but since they were here and trying to figure out if their waitress was a witch or not-

Suddenly, Dean stepped onto the stone steps up to the front door, to get a better view of the window, and was thrown back, by an invisible force, onto the grass. Sam stood stunned for a moment and then ran over. Dean was just lying there with his eyes wide open, confused and with the wind knocked out of him. After a second, he sat up, rubbing the back of his head.

"What on earth-?" Was all he said, before he got back on his feet and marched up to the steps again, without any cautionary pauses this time, and was thrown back once again. He landed right at Sam's feet.

"I think you were right," Sam said, as he helped his older brother get to his feet for the second time.

"They must have some sort of barrier up around the house," Dean squinted around in the dark, as if hoping to see it.

Sam looked too, though he doubted they'd find it if magic was involved, "Maybe it's a protective shield of some sort, against strangers and peeping toms."

"Or maybe there's something in there that they don't want us to see," Dean responded, completely ignoring Sam's half-hearted attempt at lightening the mood.

They stood outside the blue house in silence for a few minutes, listening to the seemingly oblivious chatter of the four females that had been on-going without fail despite the madness going on just outside their window. Finally, Sam turned to his brother slowly.

"What now?"

"We should-" Dean stopped, probably realizing that he knew nothing about magic spells or hexes. Anything outside hex bags and getting rid of them was not within his area of expertise.

Sam was about to speak, when the ground under their feet started to shake. Just a little at first, but then they could hear the earth crackling under their feet, the grass was rippling like waves in an ocean and both brothers grabbed onto the other for support.

Just as quickly as it started however, the shaking stopped.

"What was that?" Dean all but yelled.

Sam shushed him and looked around the neighbourhood. All was peaceful everywhere else; everything was where it was supposed to be.

"I think that you are definitely right," Sam said finally.

Dean huffed, "Of course I'm right."

For a moment they stood, clutching each other's arms, listening. This time, they heard nothing. No chattering, no laughing, no female voices and no shadows in front of the window by the front door of the mysterious house.

"Do you think they know we're here?" Dean whispered finally.

As if in answer to his question, thunder clapped and rain started to pour heavily. The funny thing was that it was only raining over the property of the blue house. Well, it was not funny for the Winchesters, but they could definitely hear four female voices laughing in harmony with each other.

The brothers watched in awe as the peach curtains over the window were drawn back and four women, one of them was Claire, peered out at them standing in the rain and getting drenched. This fact only seemed to fuel their laughter.

Sam and Dean exchanged a glance, but did nothing otherwise.

"I hate witches," Sam heard Dean grumble under his breath.

Finally, the rain subsided and the jeering women disappeared as the curtains fell over the window again. The front door opened and Claire stood there. The other three women stood behind her, crowding to get a good look at their intruders.

"You boys look soaked. Would you like to come in and get dried off?" Her tone was daunting and the grin she wore was even worse.

Sam and Dean exchanged another glance.

"C'mon now. We've had our fun and we promise to behave ourselves," Claire called, holding up two fingers, "Guide's Honour." The other women giggled.

Five minutes later, Dean and Sam were side-by-side on Claire's couch in the living room, the room with the peach curtains. Two of the other three women were sitting on the couch opposite them. They sat in silence before Claire and one other woman came in, both holding a beige towel in hand.

"Sorry about that," Claire apologized finally, though not without a sly smile as she sat down on the arm of the couch opposite the Winchesters.

All four women sat and stared at the brothers for at least a minute, in which time Sam and Dean towelled off awkwardly to avoid dripping all over the place.

Finally, Dean gathered up the courage to speak.

"So, witches?"

Claire smiled, "And the million dollars goes to - I'm sorry. I forget your names."

"I'm Dean and this is my brother Sam. Winchester."

"I'm Claire Martin, and these are my sisters," She gestured to each one as she named them off without even glancing their way.

Rose was the girl next to Claire on the couch, she was also blonde haired and green eyed (like all of them) but she was wearing a green cocktail dress and an orange headband in her hair. She smiled warmly to them when introduced.

The next sister was Marina. She was the most casually dressed in sea blue pajama pants and a fitted black t-shirt. She nodded in their general direction and lifted a hand for a fraction of a second in acknowledgement of her name. Other than that she just kept staring at them.

The last sister in the room was Amber. She was the only one in the room who made the staring increasingly awkward. She looked at them as if she wanted to jump their bones that instant, if only her sisters weren't in the room. Was it just them, or did she actually just lip her lips at them? She was wearing extremely short shorts and a tantalizingly scant tank top in a daring shade of purple.

Dean had to keep himself from running from the room in fright when she slowly drew a line with one of her pale fingers up her leg while giving him a look he could've lived a very long, generally happy life without seeing.

Sam swallowed.

Frightening as some of them were, just sitting there staring, they weren't like the other witches that Sam and Dean had encountered, which only made Dean more suspicious.

When the brothers stayed silent, Claire cleared her throat and stood up, "So, what are you two then? Warlocks?"

Dean burst into laughter, but Sam gave him a stern look that made him stop and turn his gaze to the carpeted floor, dragging his socked feet along the patterns.

"No, we're not. We're – uh, actually demon hunters," Sam winced, anticipating the laughter or for one of them to tell him that they were crazy. Instead all four of them nodded in unison. It was even freakier than if they had said that Sam and Dean were insane.

"I figured you two were part of this," Claire smiled playfully. "Usually I only use my powers against the occasional man that follows me home from work. Like you two, it happens, although they usually come to my house for other reasons, which I'm sure you can imagine. We like to have a little fun from time to time. That was the first clue."

"First clue?" Dean asked.

"The first clue that you were part of our world. Normal guys get freaked out after being thrown a few times from the door step, but you two kept coming," Claire's smile never faltered as she explained.

"Well, we certainly didn't come for those other reasons," Dean clarified, looking at Claire suspiciously.

Claire looked into his unwavering eyes for a long moment before her smile finally faded into a line, but it was her sister, Marina, that spoke.

"If you're going to blame us for the deaths around town, you can leave right now." She said.

"Because we'd be wrong or because you don't want us finding you out?" Dean turned his suspicious glance from Claire to Marina.

"Because you'd be very wrong and very stupid to accuse us of such things in our own house, where we clearly have the higher ground," Marina lifted a hand and Dean's stern lips tweaked up at the edges into a half-smile.

"I'm pretty sure you'd have the higher ground pretty much anywhere I'd accuse you."

"We're not the witches that you're looking for if you're here about those deaths," Claire cut in finally.

"So it is witches causing those deaths, then?" Sam asked.

"Yes, but not us. We're not the spell casting type," All four women cast glances at each other, all with sly smiles splayed out on their unblemished pale faces.

"I don't understand," Sam leaned forward in his seat, intrigued, "What type are you then? I assume you're not the sell-your-soul-to-the-devil kind."

Claire looked taken aback, "No, certainly not. We were born with our powers. Our mother had them too, and her grandmother before that. We're not ordinary witches either, we're elementals."

"Elementals?" Dean repeated.

Sam's eyebrows raised and he nodded, clearly impressed. Dean saw this out of the corner of his eyes and turned to him, "How do you know what that means and I don't?"

"I read."

"You read, okay. Got it. Someone tell me what an elemental is then? Preferably someone who isn't going to look at me like I'm the stupidest person in this room...or like I'm a cheap jiggalo or something," Dean eyed Amber warily with a wrinkled nose.

Claire turned to Sam, "Do you want to explain, or shall I?"


	3. Chapter 3

** Sorry, I totally forgot the whole disclaimer thing, but I think that it goes without saying that I DO NOT own Sam or Dean Winchester. Sad. **

THREE

"Elementals are a specific type of witch," Sam explained to Dean, his tone like he was reading straight out of a textbook, "They're born witches, and they have to be consecutive members of the same family, so they're very rare. Usually they don't even get their powers until later on in life because they have to come into them together."

Claire nodded at Sam as he spoke, her smile widened. It looked to Dean that she seemed to be enjoying his brother's presence more than any normal person. That irked him, but mostly because a hunch told him that she liked him because he was smart. Dean rolled his eyes; he was smart too. Just a different kind of smart.

"So, what do you elementals do then?" Dean asked, cutting straight to the chase.

Claire reluctantly switched her gaze to him, the impression fading from her green eyes, "We control the elements. Elementals. Get it?"

"You...control the elements?" Dean said slowly.

Claire sighed, but smiled, "That invisible force out there that kept throwing you back? That was me. Just a little manipulation and then-" She lifted a finger and flicked it lightly to the left, the vase on the table moved to the left with it. "Easy as pie."

Dean's mouth formed a startled 'o', "You did move the salt shaker."

Claire laughed and nodded.

"Wind," Sam muttered under his breath.

Claire continued, "Rose here was responsible for the earthquake you felt earlier. She's quite talented at knocking people off their feet, should she choose to, she also grows amazing vegetables. Never a bad patch." Claire looked proud. Rose blushed and waved a dismissive hand her way.

"It's nothing."

"Earth," Sam mumbled again.

Rose didn't hear him and continued, "Marina is great to have around at the beach. The surfers go wild, and, well, the downpour you're wearing – that's her fault."

"It's a talent," Marina smiled at Dean, a challenging look that dared him to fight back. Dean only smiled back tightly and looked Sam's way.

Of course, he was still mumbling, "Water."

"And Amber-," Marina started, before Claire lifted a hand. Amber licked her lips again and gave the brothers a mischievous smirk.

"She gets into trouble a lot," Claire smiled affectionately.

"Fire," Dean said, before Sam had the chance. Amber nodded seductively and Dean swallowed hard, looking away at the carpet again.

A silence hung in the room, before they were joined all at once by a much younger woman. The Winchesters assumed she was part of the family, the blonde hair and green eyes gave her away, but she didn't give either Sam or Dean a second glance as she came into the room. She didn't even say anything.

"Hey, Tana, is there something you need?" Claire stood up and faced the girl. The girl, presumably Tana, just stared back. Claire nodded slowly, "Well, we have guests. Do you think you could get whatever it is for yourself?"

Tana looked from Claire at Amber now. Dean and Sam were both surprised to see that, the moment Amber set her eyes on Tana's, all traces of the seductive and mischievous Amber faded from sight.

"What's up, girl?" Amber asked, reaching out and placing a hand on Tana's cheek for a few seconds and then she took it back and smiled pleasantly, "Everything okay?"

Tana stared a moment longer and then nodded slowly, turned around and left the room.

The silence rested over the room a moment longer after Tana was gone and then Claire sat down again and shrugged sheepishly.

"That was Tana. She's also my sister, the youngest obviously. She's...sensitive."

"Why?" Dean asked. He got a stern look from Sam for that, which he assumed was because his brother thought that he was being rude, but Claire continued all the same.

"Well, the four of us were born with powers and Tana..." Claire shook her head slowly, "Tana wasn't."

"Tana doesn't have any powers?" Sam blurted, without a second thought about being rude.

"Nope, unfortunately. She and dad were the only two in our family without powers of any kind. Completely normal," Claire shook her head again.

Sam scoffed, "You say that like it's a crime or something."

Claire stopped herself and exchanged glances with all of her sisters and then turned sheepishly back to the brothers, "In our family being normal made you the freak. I regret to say that we weren't all that...nice to Tana about it when we were kids."

"She was always the fifth wheel," Marina cut in. She looked ashamed of herself even as she said it.

Sam and Dean were shocked once more when Amber spoke up, "She hasn't spoken since...well, I haven't heard her say anything for a long time. At least since she was eight."

"How old is she now?" Dean asked softly.

"Seventeen." Claire responded. She wouldn't look them in the eye, none of the sisters would. Treating their sister, Tana, the way they had when they were kids was obviously something that the Elementals regretted deeply.

"Seventeen," Sam repeated. He looked a bit defeated. Even Dean felt sorry for the girl.

Imagine growing up in a family where, if you didn't have powers, you weren't accepted or treated like a normal person. You were the freak in the family. It must have been especially horrible for Tana if she'd ceased speaking for nine years.

"So," Sam cleared his throat, "you mentioned earlier that you weren't the witches who were causing those deaths. I'm not that familiar with all types of witches..." He trailed off, as if ashamed that he didn't know something.

"Well, you've met two types I assume," Claire took Sam's statement as an excuse to turn the conversation away from Tana and launched into explanation mode, "The sell-your-soul-to-the-devil kind and us, who have powers, but don't cast spells or do any other magic of any kind."

Sam nodded in interest and leaned forward in his seat.

Dean could see that this was going to be a long conversation for the geeks, so he quickly excused himself to get a glass of water from the kitchen.

"Yeah, sure. It's in the room just behind me and to the right. The glasses should be clean in the dishwasher," Claire said, before turning back to Sam and picked up again right where she left off. Her sisters seemed just as invested in the conversation as she was, even though it was clear by now that Claire held the most authority and was the chosen speaker of the group.

Dean also got the impression that Rose was the under-spoken, modest sister, Marina was most like Dean, with her sharp tongue and her 'dare me' attitude, and, of course, they all knew what type of girl that Amber was. But he wondered about Tana.

He wondered if anyone really knew who she was, since she hadn't talked to anyone for such a long time. Had anyone ever even taken the time to listen to her when she did speak? Was that why she'd just stopped talking altogether?

If so, Dean knew what she felt like sometimes. To be heard, but not really be listened to; to be underestimated.

That was why, when he entered the kitchen and saw Tana sitting outside on the steps of the backyard patio, he took a deep breath and stepped outside. It wasn't raining any longer, but the patio was still wet. Even so, Dean sat down beside Tana and looked up at the full moon overhead.

She was staring at it, even as Dean came up behind her. Dean was fairly certain that she'd heard him coming, the door was squeaky enough to give that away if his footfalls hadn't, but she didn't even look his way when he sat down.

He was okay with that. They could sit in silence for a while as the water seeped through Dean's socks.

After a while, Tana finally did turn and acknowledge Dean's presence. She looked him in the eyes, her expression unreadable, and Dean smiled back.

"I'm Dean," He held out a hand and was surprised, though he knew he shouldn't have been, when she took it and shook it once with an impressive grip, "You must be Tana."

She didn't nod or smile, she just turned silently back to staring up at the moon.

Dean nodded slowly and looked up again, "It's nice out here. Do you do this often?" He could've slapped himself in the forehead.

She doesn't speak, he reminded himself, but when he looked over she was smiling.

"Yeah? I don't often get chances like this; to just sit, relax and look at the stars. Most of the places I travel to I don't get to see the stars. The city lights are too bright."

They sat in silence for a minute, before Dean began again.

"So, I know that you don't talk much," _understatement of the year_, "but I was just...thinking, I guess, about how hard growing up must've been for you. You probably don't want to hear this, you don't even know me, but, sometimes in my life, I know exactly how you feel. I was never the favourite in my family. I don't mean to imply that you weren't, but-" Dean shook his head, "I'll just quit while I'm ahead. Forget about it. Sorry."

The clouds shaded the moon and the sky was grey, Dean noticed upon looking up again. It was eerie, but peaceful. He almost wished he owned a camera.

"What's so great about powers anyway?" Dean mumbled, directing his question at the eerie moon, "I've never had any and I get along fine. I have a gun. Works just fine for me, keeps me safe, I guess."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tana look over at him again, so he turned slowly and brought his hand to his belt.

"Want to see it?" He asked, for lack of anything better to say to keep her attention. He knew that he probably shouldn't be letting a child of seventeen be touching a weapon like his, but her eyes betrayed a curiosity that he couldn't help smiling at. She was a weird kid; he could relate.

He pulled the gun from his belt strap again, checked to make sure that the safety was still on and handed it over into her waiting hands.

Dean watched her carefully as she turned it over and over in her hands and examined it as if it were a patient on the operating table. She didn't lose any curiosity as she tilted her head this way and that, assessing every angle; she looked interested, a little bit frightened and power hungry all at the same time.

"I do feel powerful holding that thing," Dean smiled, still watching her look at the gun, "It's like having an actual power, I guess, because you can whip it out and choose to use it when you need it. It kind of makes me feel safe, like I've got some kind of higher ground, even when I'm scared shitless."

She turned towards him again and looked him straight in the eye. Something about the look there said that she'd be scolding him if she could talk.

"Sorry," Dean held up his hand in defeat, "I shouldn't swear. I'm used to it. I'll try to remember not to use those words around young ears...so, you like it? Shiny, huh?"

She smiled and held it out for him to take, which he did, but he laid it on his lap instead of tucking it back in his belt. This time, instead of turning away again, she kept staring at him the way her sisters had when he'd been sitting in their living room. He didn't find her staring so awkward though. Tana's staring felt more akin to having a conversation, weirdly enough.

"My dad taught me how to use one. He told me that if I was scared, even if it was nothing, if I held one of these I'd feel better. And it worked. Still does. Everyone's got a security blanket, I guess. I think my brother's is his laptop. He likes to know everything or he freaks out. It's kind of annoying."

Tana laughed. He was surprised that she made sound when she laughed. It was a girly sound, but it made him smile all the same and he was about to continue making jokes, actually enjoying his time spent with someone who was listening to him and finding him funny for once, when he heard Sam call his name from inside.

Dean turned to look over his shoulder. Through the screen door he could see movement in the living room, although he couldn't tell you who was leaving. His best bet, however, was that they were. He surprised himself again by actually being disappointed that he had to go.

He turned back to Tana, who'd gone back to staring at the moon.

"Listen, I probably have to go, but if you ever want to...I don't know, if you ever need help, I'll give you this," Dean dug into his jeans pocket and pulled out the napkin he'd taken from the restaurant. He'd planned to use it to get Claire's number, but now he wasn't interested, especially since he knew she was interested in his brother.

Using the pen in his other pocket, he jotted down his cell phone number and then put the napkin on the patio next to Tana.

Then he stood up, and she still hadn't looked at him.

"Tana?"

She looked up at him and they connected eyes, green to green, for a moment. Then Dean smiled widely and she followed suit.

"Bye." He said softly, turned and walked inside, leaving Tana to the moon.


	4. Chapter 4

**disclaimer: Sam and Dean are NOT mine, but Eric Kripke is my saviour for inventing them and YAY Jared and Jensen for making them come alive**

FOUR

"It's amazing; you wouldn't believe all that they can do!" Sam had been blabbering on and on about the Elementals since they'd gotten in the car. Claire had graciously offered the brothers the pull-out couch to sleep on while they were in town, but Dean had stepped in to decline before Sam could say "amazing" one more time.

Now they were driving around town, at nearly two o'clock in the morning, looking for a motel to stay in. Not many places were still open, but Dean was sure they'd find someplace, they always did, or they'd be sleeping in the car. He was also seriously considering getting two separate rooms so he wouldn't have to listen to Sam talk anymore. Maybe he'd quit talking in his sleep, or maybe Dean could just throw a pillow over his head and that would stop him.

"Claire told me all sorts of stories from when they were growing up and just getting used to using their powers, you would not believe how quickly they got powerful. It's amazing!"

Dean nodded and glanced to his right. Nope, only a superstore and a dry cleaners.

"There was this one other thing that she said that might be useful for the case."

At this, Dean tuned in, "Finally, something useful."

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing. Tell me what she said."

"Not funny."

"I wasn't making a dirty joke, Sam, tell me what Claire said that might help the hunt."

Sam sighed and his hyper-activeness toned down a few notches before he spoke again, more businesslike this time, thankfully, instead of the six year old boy he'd sounded like earlier.

"She explained to me the different types of witches that she knew about. Some of them you know too, the sell-your-soul witches, the striga, the Elementals, the ones born with a specific power and the practitioners."

"Your point being?"

"Practitioners can go either way, good or bad. The good ones are the Wiccans and the bad ones-"

"Let me guess, carve your forehead and leave you for dead cults?"

"Cults," Sam nodded, "Exactly. Of course, we knew this, but Claire happens to know a lot about a bunch of different types of witches. She might be able to help us pin-point exactly who is doing this and exactly what it is that they are doing."

Dean furrowed his brow, "Why not just stake out at those mansions we saw at the edge of town to see if there's something going on there?"

"Do you remember what became of our last stake out?" Sam tousled his hair, spraying droplets of water everywhere.

Dean rolled his eyes, "Okay, fine, so that didn't work like I planned, but we don't need Claire's help. We don't need any of their help. We know what they're doing, they want money, they're ritually sacrificing people to some sort of god to do it. Probably a pagan god or something, like that fugly scarecrow in Burkitsville. It doesn't matter who they are or why they're doing it though. We just have to find them out and get rid of them so that it doesn't happen again."

"Aren't you forgetting something? Cults may be evil, but they're still just people. Are you suggesting we barge in there and slaughter huge houses-full of people?" Sam gave Dean that look, that look that said "you're jumping again without thinking". The older Winchester suddenly thought of Tana, but shook his head and jumped again.

"No, I'm not suggesting that. We douse and burn whatever tree or bush or vase is giving them all the power, or the money. Whatever it is has the spirit of some kind of god and we'll just get rid of it. Easy as that."

"Not as easy as that. What if it's not a god, what if there's not a sigil or an item to burn. What if it's not that simple?"

"Then we figure it out ourselves, it's what we're good at," Dean said stubbornly. His hands were now clutching the steering wheel with such gusto that his knuckles were white. He didn't notice, however.

Sam sighed again with a shake of his head, "It would go a hell of a lot faster if you'd just let Claire and her sisters tell us what they know."

"We can do this alone, Sam, we have been for years. We don't need those witches getting in the way of our work."

"They're not just witches, Dean, they're also people and I don't like the tone you're using when you talk about them. You make them sound like the monsters that we hunt," Sam frowned and turned to face Dean in his seat.

"I'm sorry, okay. I don't mean to, I'm just-"

"You can't think of a reason for them not to help," Sam said matter-of-factly, "You just don't want them around because they have powers and they freak you out. Well, Dean, that's discrimination I believe and, last I checked, you were cool with anyone in a skirt."

Dean wanted to smack his own forehead, but, knowing that he had to drive, he clutched the wheel harder instead, "It's not that. I couldn't care less if they all had a second head and hunchbacks, I just don't like them. Not because they're witches, but because of who they are. Who they made their sister."

"You're talking about Tana," Sam said after a pause. The distain on his face melted away.

"Yeah, man, she was not treated right in that house. She's...mute for god's sakes, and where were they? Where was anyone?"

"Wow, you really got attached to the girl," Sam raised his eyebrows and sat back as if he had to take a moment to contemplate.

"I didn't get attached," Dean protested sheepishly, "I just didn't like it and I don't like them."

Sam was silent for a moment, "Okay, so you don't like them. I'll go to Claire's tomorrow and talk to them then. You can stay...wherever we can find a motel."

Dean shook his head, "No, I'm not letting you go in alone."

"Then you'll come?"

"Yep."

"You're not afraid of losing your mouth are you, because, I promise, they don't have those kind of powers," Sam smirked.

"That's not funny,"

"Course it's not. Sorry," Sam eyed his brother thoughtfully for another minute and then turned away, gone back to staring wistfully out his window.

They eventually found a motel and checked in through a crotchety old man who obviously wasn't happy with the shift he was working, but he managed to grumble out directions to their room and roughly hand over their keys and that was all they needed.

In a matter of minutes, both Winchesters were in queen beds of their own and each pretended to sleep, while staring at the ceiling, the sheets pulled up to their bare chests.

Morning did not come quickly. Dean woke up to drawn curtains, the daylight spilling into the room and temporarily blinding the elder Winchester. Sam was already up and sitting at the desk in the room with his laptop open and a cup of coffee in his hands.

Dean muttered a profanity to himself and then spoke louder for Sam to hear, "Do your girlfriends make the sun brighter every morning just to torture me?"

Sam smiled, "They don't control the weather, they just manipulate it. I'm afraid the sun shines like that on its own. Although, God may have a thing or two against you," There was a short pause before he turned around to face Dean and added, "And they're not my girlfriends."

Dean nodded and sat up, ignoring Sam's last comment, "So it's a personal vendetta. What did I ever do to deserve this?"

"Maybe it's offended that we're hardly out in the daytime. It's like we're nocturnal or something," Sam got up from his chair and brought another cup of coffee over to Dean's bedside. He put it down on the night stand and stood there jeering down at his brother, but casting shade over his face with his tall figure.

"In our line of work we can't afford to frolic in parks or go shopping on days like this," Dean finally did get up and drink from his cup, "This tastes like dirt."

"Well, it was ground earlier today."

Dean snorted and stood, pushing Sam in the direction of the laptop, "What are you doing over there? Not looking up blondes in bathing suits again, are ya?"

"Very funny. Actually I was looking up articles in the town newspaper and I found something interesting. We were wrong about the deaths." When Dean furrowed his brow in confusion, Sam led the way back to the desk and continued, "The girl and the boy were found in the park with that symbol carved into their foreheads. They bled to death."

"Yes, we already knew this. So did that priest."

"No, he didn't. That's what we thought, but I just looked it up and he died alright, in the church, but with a completely different symbol on him. It wasn't actually carved into his skin, though, it was found on a piece of stationary on the body."

Dean thought for a moment, "How could Bobby have missed something like that?" It had been Bobby to send the Winchesters to this town in the first place.

Sam shrugged, "He probably just saw 'symbols' with both cases and assumed they were the same. I wasn't able to find a picture of the symbol on the priest, the police kept that under wraps, but we know what the symbol on the couple in the park looked like, so we can work with that for now."

"So...two different cults?"

"Possibly, or the same cult and two different ideas."

"Or something else altogether," Dean shook his head and sipped his coffee, "This is going to be harder than I thought."

"Which is why it's an even better idea to meet with Claire today," Sam stated.

"Boy," Dean said as he turned around to get some clothes from his duffel bag, "You sure like saying that girl's name."

"Excuse me?"

Dean shrugged, "Oh nothing. It's just it's been 'Claire this' and 'Claire that' and 'Claire and her sisters' for the past eight or so hours, minus the time you spent sleeping. It's just something that I noticed."

Sam swallowed, "Well, it's just she's the oldest and we met her first so-"

"Yeah, I know. You think she's hot," Sam shook his head, but Dean gave him a sly look, "You said so in the restaurant, remember? You were pretty gung ho about getting her number. Now you know where she lives."

"You started the talk about getting her number," Sam protested, "I was just going along. I thought it was a brotherly bonding thing, but it was just a mistake."

Dean laughed and headed towards the bathroom.

"Ten minutes then we go see-"

"Claire?"

"No. The elementals."

"Right," Dean laughed again and slammed the door behind himself. It'd be at least twenty minutes before they left the motel.


	5. Chapter 5

**yay another disclaimer...sam and dean = not mine but I love 'em just the same**

FIVE

She's so...smart, Sam thought. He wasn't sure if she was aware that he was staring, elbow on the table and his hand holding his head up as he copied the stereotypical stance of a boy sitting at his desk with a schoolboy crush.

He wasn't sure if that was what this was, a crush, but he was certainly impressed with all the knowledge that Claire possessed. He'd had the same feeling for a lot of the girls that he'd met at Stanford, but it wasn't at all what he'd felt for Jessica, it just didn't compare. He'd loved Jessica; he'd been...fascinated with all the really smart girls he'd met.

Guess smart girls just turned his crank, as Dean had so nicely put it.

He loved being challenged intellectually, as geeky as it was, and someone who could make him think. Claire was always doing just that. Ever since he'd met her he'd been trying to figure her out, but, so far, he wasn't succeeding. Every time he saw her, she'd surprise him by showing him a new side of herself.

Today she was all business and that was why Sam was having a hard time paying attention. She was just so...so smart. Dean was sitting on the couch, opposite his brother, looking bored and scared at the same time. Amber had chosen her seat very carefully, basically on Dean's lap, but he was ever-so-slowly edging away from her whenever she looked up to talk to her sister.

Marina was at work, a lifeguard for the local pool, and Rose was out with her boyfriend. Amber had nicely volunteered to help with the hunt and of course Claire had already made it clear that she was in.

"We've never actually hunted anything before; if we had we would've been all over these attacks. We just weren't sure it was witches until you boys came and got so suspicious." Claire smiled playfully at Sam and then Dean, who tried to smile pleasantly back, but ended up with a grimace in place instead.

"Even then I don't think we would've had the balls to go after them ourselves, thank goodness for you two. Our heroes," Amber leaned over Dean's shoulder and attempted to bite his ear, but Dean suddenly had to go to the bathroom and promptly left the room.

Amber laughed to herself and winked at Sam. Sam had to laugh too. Claire wasn't paying any attention. She'd spread out a map on the coffee table before them and was pointing out all the mansions, possible locations for the cults, on the outskirts of town.

"Now, this town is fairly small so everyone pretty much knows everyone. It's only those rich folk up the hill that keep to themselves. Some of them have yachts so they live out on the sea for half the year, so they aren't even home. Still, it's probably worth checking those out if we can."

Sam nodded, although he had no idea how they'd go about searching a yacht out at sea.

"If they're out in a yacht, how on earth are they murdering all these people?" Amber pointed out, "It's kind of hard to carve up someone's head if you're out surrounded by a few hundred miles of water, while they're in a park over here."

Claire frowned, "Fine, burst my bubble, why don't ya? I've always wanted to see the inside of one of those yachts." She smiled sheepishly to Sam and then turned back to her map, "So we can rule out the Lodges and the Christensens. That leaves the Gordons and the Sparks'."

Sam assumed that these were all names of the rich people living up the hill and watched as Claire used a pale finger to point out where the mansions were that they were going to be checking out, belonging to the Gordon family and the Sparks family, apparently. Luckily, they were on the same stretch of country road, so that saved them some time.

"So how do these stake outs work?" Amber asked, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully at Sam, and pulling her bare legs up onto the couch with her, curling them under her. The sun dress she'd chosen to wear was pretty, but it was also pretty short.

"Usually the less people the better, so that it's less likely that we'll get noticed by neighbours or police. Maybe we'll get lucky and go when no one's home and then there's a good chance that we'll be able to break in and snoop around without being caught."

"Why don't we go now?" Amber looked up at Claire, "It's not like we can get anything done sitting around here."

"Are you kidding?" Claire sat down beside her sister on the couch and turned towards her, "Those kinds of people don't have day jobs, they can afford to pay others to do their errands and run their businesses and they get to spend the day at home."

"So we go at night then," Sam clarified, "Wait until they're sleeping and get in then."

"What about the alarm system?" Amber asked.

"We'll deal with that," Sam smiled at them. He felt special when they exchanged a glance that clearly read that they were impressed with him. He didn't usually get that reaction from people.

"Well, won't they hear us walking around?" Amber questioned again after she and Claire were finished marvelling over their new friend.

Claire fielded that one before Sam could say anything, "Marina can deal with that. One good storm and they shouldn't even be able to hear us coming."

"Alright," Amber was not at a loss of questions and comments today, she even seemed remotely normal, "Say we do get inside and no one notices. We look around and find nothing. Then what?"

Sam shrugged, "We wipe our fingerprints and then leave quietly."

"What if we do find something, then what?"

"Dean and I will deal with it then. Hopefully, we'll know everything about the situation by then. I was hoping to find out about the symbol on the victim's foreheads for starters," Sam suggested. He hadn't even finished before Claire stood up and started walking towards the front door.

"I'll take you to the local library. We should be able to find something there. They've got archives and everything, plus internet," She smiled.

Sam nodded and stood as well, but then paused in mid-step, "I should wait and tell Dean where I'm going and what the plan is."

Claire shook her head, but Amber spoke up first, apparently with the same idea, "I'll tell him, don't worry about it." She smiled and when Sam turned back to Claire, she was smiling brightly with a hint of mischievousness as well.

She motioned to the door, now open in front of her, "Shall we?"

Sam nodded again and then waved over his shoulder to Amber before leaving the house.

Dean emerged from the washroom a second later, having heard the door close behind his brother and Claire, although he didn't know it. He thought maybe Amber had gone to work or away with a boyfriend that she hadn't mentioned, but when he went back into the living room only Amber remained. He cursed Sam in his head for leaving him alone with this woman.

She batted her eyelashes at him sweetly, almost innocently, but at the same time he could see her hot pink underwear from underneath her dress.

"Guess it's just you and me,"

Dean forced a laugh and checked the window in time to see Claire's Volvo drive off down the street. He pointed, "Where'd they go?"

"To the library. Let the geeks have their books, I say, we've got something more important to do," Amber stood and walked to Dean's side, taking his arm, "I want to show you someplace."

Dean didn't like the sound of that. "Actually, I was thinking that I'd go back to the-"

"Oh, you don't want to spend the whole day cooped up in a motel, do you? I happen to know something that may help you boys too. Claire's not the only resourceful one," Now Amber looked offended, so Dean tried to relax and stop himself from wincing whenever he looked her in the face.

"Where do you want to go?"

"The church,"

"The church?"

"Yes. Let's go, we'll take my car. They'll recognize me there, but if you ask no one's going to tell you anything."

Dean nodded, that did make sense. "Alright, you take me to the church and...what are you expecting to find there?"

"It's not what we'll find there, it's what happened there. Maybe you'll find something that I missed," Amber tugged his arm in the direction of the door. She managed to pull him all the way there, but they stopped in the door frame.

Suddenly she just dropped his arm and took a step back in the house. Dean turned around to see why and saw Tana on the second last stair. She was staring at Dean, expressionless. Amber stood between them and eyed Tana with concern on her face, like yesterday.

"Tana," She said at first, startled, then collected herself and started again, "Tana, what are you doing here?"

Tana narrowed her eyes as if saying 'this is my house too'.

Amber shook her head quickly, "I meant to say, what are you doing down here? Now? Did you want something, sweetie?"

Tana just stared at her. Amber stared back and then turned to Dean, over her shoulder and whispered sheepishly, "Sometimes it's hard to understand just what she wants."

Dean didn't say a word, but looked back to Tana, who was staring at him again. Green to green.

"I think she wants to come along." He said finally.

Amber looked surprised and turned back to her sister, "You want to come, Tana? We're going to the church, you might be bored." She was even more surprised when her youngest sister finished off the steps and walked to the door, slipped on her shoes and ducked under Amber's arm to get out of the house.

She smiled to Dean on her way by, but walked past him to the driveway where she stood and waited for the others.

Amber stood stunned for a moment and then sighed, closed the door behind them and motioned for Dean to follow her sister, "She's strange that kid, I don't know how you even knew that."

"Let's just say I might understand where she's coming from."

Amber looked frightened for a fraction of a second before she pushed away the emotion and smiled tightly. She opened the garage manually to reveal a pale pink Volkswagen beetle and Dean's jaw dropped. The girls went to the car, Amber to the driver's seat and Tana to sit in the back, but Dean hung back on the stone walkway of the house and stared.

"What?" Amber finally asked, half in the car, half still outside, "You don't like pink?" There was that teasing tone again. Just when he was finally getting used to her. She slid into the car, started the engine and then honked the horn.

There was no way he was getting into that car.

Sam and Claire walked into the library without saying a word to each other. It was the same way it had been in the car on the way over. The whole drive here he'd been trying to think of something to say, about the hunt, about the cult, about witches, but instead he sat there like an idiot fiddling with his hands.

He'd even thought for a moment that he'd misinterpreted his initial feelings for her, but all that was forgotten the moment the large wood doors closed behind them and Claire led Sam inside.

"Okay, we've got your silly books of love spells, your curses, hexes and get back at your boss spells, your typical book of shadows, a wide range of Charmed books – I love that show. Did you ever watch it?"

Sam shook his head, he'd heard of it, he even knew that Dean found the sisters on the show hot, but other than that he knew nothing about it except that its demons and facts were completely made up.

"Not really," he replied.

"Well, it doesn't matter. Anyway, down here we've got books on early witchcraft, the Salem Witch Trials, another Charmed book – oh, I haven't read this one," Claire pulled that book from the shelf and kept walking. Sam followed dutifully.

"Ah ha," Claire exclaimed as they rounded a corner and reached a tiny shelf of old looking books at the back of the occult section, "This is where we'd find anything cultish and old, as you can probably tell by some of the titles and the cobwebs on the corners."

Sam smiled and knelt down to get a better look at the books. They did look ancient, some of them were even worn and fading, but there was dust on this particular shelf that suggested that no one had been here and checked out these particular books in a while.

"They were used frivolously in their day I guess, but nowadays I guess the witchcraft novelty has worn off," Claire grinned, "Get it? Worn off? Like some of the titles?"

Sam grinned back. He loved a girl that could use the word 'frivolously' in the same sentence as a joke.

"Let's get started," He said and pulled the biggest, thickest book he could see of the shelf.


	6. Chapter 6

**disclaimer...yes it's this thing again. I do NOT own Sam and Dean Winchester...deja vu**

SIX

"Everyone knows that last year's orange is this year's blue, so of course Claire gets her Volvo and yet no one else in the family is allowed to use the family fund to get what they want. I wanted a new hairdryer, you know a better one, but apparently a six hundred dollar hairdryer is crazier than a six thousand dollar car just because it's a Volvo and its blue." Amber shook her head.

Listening to her chatter was even more painful, to Dean, than watching her lick her lips in that seductive way she did at their first meeting. He winced and took deep breaths every few seconds, but pretended to be paying attention.

In the rear view mirror he could see Tana staring out her window, not paying attention in the slightest. She was probably used to conversations like this and had learned exactly when to tune out. Dean should've stopped listening when Amber had started in on the lack of colour selection on fuzzy dice for your car.

Yes, Dean was riding shotgun in the beetle, trying his best to hide his face with his hand. He had his elbow propped up on the bottom of the window. He'd already seen a group of teenage boys, in a perfectly acceptable rusty blue truck, who had laughed at him and pointed upon seeing him in the car. Dean had flipped them off, but had hidden his face ever since. Who were they to laugh at him in this car, when he had a beautiful woman sitting beside him who obviously liked him?

Granted, Dean didn't find himself that lucky, either, but he needed something to make himself feel better. How on earth had he allowed himself to be sucked into this tiny pink vehicle anyway? He didn't even remember, but he regretted the decision greatly.

He looked into the rear view mirror again and Tana was looking straight at him as if she sensed what he was feeling. He forced a smile and sighed again.

"My old one always made my hair frizzy somehow, which was just – well, not right. You know what I mean?"

Dean snapped back to reality, "Oh. Yeah. Totally. Frizzy hair. What a turn off."

"Thank you. So when we get back home could you tell my sisters how you feel about it, maybe then they'll let me get a better one," she turned into a parking lot in front of a white building with a steeple, the church, Dean presumed. He knew he was right when she said, "We're here."

There was no one else there and the church was roped off with yellow police tape. There was also a large sign outside on the grass that said, "Let peace live in those who repent: confessions on Wednesday" and under that "CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE".

"Uh, I don't know if you noticed, but the church is closed," Dean pointed out.

"Oh, I noticed," Amber smiled, parked and stepped out onto the pavement.

Dean didn't want to be seen stepping out of this as much as he didn't want to be seen in it, but he figured that he might as well follow her or she'd never let them leave. Tana waited for Dean to step out of the car before following.

He took a few big steps away from the car, towards the church, before he spoke again, "So why are we here?"

"We're going inside," Amber said it as if it should have been obvious.

Dean shook his head, "I don't think so. It's closed, see?"

"Yes, I see that," Amber rolled her eyes without even taking a glance at the sign, she must've driven past enough to know that already, "This is the church where that priest dude died. Your brother said something about him earlier. Well, my team was on call when it happened-"

"Wait- your team? You're a-" Dean was about to say police when Amber interrupted him.

"Firefighter," She smiled, "Don't tell me. I don't look the type, right? I get that a lot. Do you want to hear what I know or not?" She waited a moment, looking at Dean's expression, and then sighed, "What?"

Dean smiled slowly, looking Amber over as if seeing her for the first time. She was not only petite and leggy; she also had amazing biceps and rock thighs. His opinion about her changed in that instant, "It's just ironic, isn't it? A firestarter _and_ a firefighter."

Amber smiled back, not a seductive smile, but a truly playful one, "Yeah. Ironic. Anyways, do you want to see the inside?"

Dean nodded and waited for her to take the lead.

Amber walked towards the tape, with Tana on her heels. Dean followed them with more than a few glances over his shoulder to make sure that they weren't being followed. It wouldn't be good if they got caught and then taken to the police station or something. It was a plus that they had a firefighter with them though, that would probably go in their favour.

Once inside, the doors weren't locked, Dean looked around carefully. It looked like a normal church, stained glass, pews and bibles, the works. All that was missing was the choir of little children singing hymns at the front, and the priest of course, but the church was as empty as the parking lot.

"What did you say you found in here?" Dean asked, looking up. The ceiling was adorned with a painting of cherubs on clouds that would have looked down at the congregation on good days.

"I didn't say, not yet," Amber walked straight to the front of the church to the raised altar. Tana followed her and stood on the second step then sat down. Amber eyed her disapprovingly. Dean followed them up there after a moment; he watched Tana but couldn't see anything wrong with what she was doing. Just sitting, staring at him.

"The priest died," Amber said and then nodded to Tana, "right there. That's where they found him."

"Did Tana see it?" Dean asked, only now understanding why Amber didn't approve of her sitting there.

"No," Amber shook her head, "No one did. The church wasn't even open that day. Well, it was open, but there was no service going on so he was the only one here. He was here a full day before someone finally came in and found him. Poor guy."

"How exactly did he die?" Dean came forward and knelt down, putting his hands on the second step, the step that Tana sat on, looking up at the ceiling now.

"The coroner said that his brain over heated or something and it just...liquefied; from the inside. But the weirdest thing was that symbol they found on him. Everyone figured that it was some sort of religious symbol so I didn't even think about it until it was on your list of priorities," Amber shrugged and sat down next to her sister.

Dean moved his hands around in the carpet for reasons unknown even to himself. Then he looked up at Tana. She was staring at him. It was as if she already knew what he was thinking, as if she already knew what had happened without seeing it. Dean narrowed his eyes, but Tana's stare was unwavering. Suddenly, she smiled. He couldn't help but crack a smile back.

"Okay. Where can I find this piece of stationary that they found the symbol on?"

"The police took it as evidence, although I doubt they're looking into it. Why would they? There's nothing mysterious about the priest's death unless you know better."

Dean thought about that a moment, "I have a hard time believing that this is a coincidence, but I need that symbol to be sure. We may have to break into a police office...which is not going to be easy. We may need disguises and fake ids and-"

He stopped himself when he saw Tana and Amber smirking at him.

"What?" he asked Tana, even though he knew that it would be Amber to answer him.

"I know what it looks like. I was on call here, remember? I saw the stationary. It was on some kind of motel stationary. I haven't been to the motels here, so I don't know much about stationary, but I do remember the symbol like the back of my hand."

Dean smirked this time, "You memorized the back of your hand?"

Amber smiled back, "It's an expression, but you knew that."

Tana stood up at that moment and walked to a door at the back of the church. Dean and Amber exchanged a glance, and then both stood and followed her in. Behind the door was a kitchen. Tana was at the island, a pen in hand. She was drawing on a piece of paper.

Dean and Amber each stood on one side of her and watched. Amber looked appalled and took the paper out of her sister's hands when she was done, "This is it. This is the symbol." She turned back to Tana and held the paper just out of reach, "How did you know that this symbol was on Father Kevin?"

Tana just stared.

Dean took the paper from Amber then and looked it over; it was a simple circle with four drawings inside it; some dots, a few swirls, a wavy line and a few straight lines. There was a vertical line through the circle.

"Do you recognize this?" Dean gave it back to Amber then.

Amber nodded without looking at it again, "How could I not? My mother taught it to all of us growing up. It's our symbol; the elements. Only it didn't have this line through it." Amber pointed to the vertical line through the circle.

The eldest Winchester watched Amber carefully for a moment, trying to connect the dots, but there was obviously something that she was not telling him. Something about the symbol and the priest, and not only that. There was something all four sisters were hiding about Tana, but he'd get to that later.

"Something you want to share with us?" Dean asked. Even Tana looked interested, and like she didn't know why Amber would hide something like that. Dean had to admit he was extremely confused by the behaviour of the girl, but now wasn't the time for that.

Amber looked at the linoleum ground and then pulled up a white stool from the island and sat on it, "I hid the symbol from my sisters and I didn't tell you about it before because...well, I knew it was a threat against us. How could you not see that? But I didn't want to believe it. I mean, we've never had anything like this happen to us before. We've had normal lives, well, normal for us, and now suddenly, decades after getting our powers, someone threatens us? I wanted to pass it off as a joke or something. Pretend it never happened."

She hung her head and Dean was silent for a moment. Tana went to her sister and put a hand on Amber's back which made her more visibly guilty.

"So, someone's after you for some reason, hence the line through the circle and the dead priest...did you recognize the symbol on the dead couple in the park?"

Amber shook her head, but when Dean gave her a stern look she looked downright upset, "No, okay? My secret's out. I told you the truth. I knew what that symbol meant, but I've never seen the other one in my life."

Dean nodded. For now, he believed her. Besides she was obviously close with her family why would she keep something from them that might come back to bite them...oh. She had kept the little bit about the priest from them, but that had only been because she was scared and in denial. Dean could understand that. Still, he was going to ask the other sisters about it later.

It only took an incident like this to remind Dean that he didn't like these so-called Elementals: the Martin family, besides Tana. Her, he liked. The others all seemed to be hiding something.

"Hey, Amber," Dean said suddenly.

She looked up from her miserable contemplation, "Yes, Dean?"

He lowered his voice so that Tana, who'd moved towards the windows of the kitchen and was looking outside, might not hear, "Are you sure that Tana wasn't born with powers?"

"Yes," Amber looked appalled that he was even asking, "Believe me. She tested herself just like we did when we were learning how to use our powers and...well, nothing. No one was more upset about it than her, except maybe mom-" Amber stopped talking abruptly and looked over her shoulder at her sister.

For a moment she stayed silent, then turned back to him and spoke again, "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Dean smiled tightly and shook his head, "Why don't we head back outside so I can look around where that priest of yours died. Maybe I'll find something you didn't."

She smiled at him and then got up off the stool, called for Tana and the three of them walked back into the church. It was still empty, thankfully.

Dean checked each row of pews, the altar at the front, the floor and found nothing until he came to a table at the back. There was a clip board there, which had clearly been holding papers. There was a small torn piece of paper, presumably from the paper that used to be sitting there, still attached to the clip.

"Amber," She came over when he called and Dean held up the clipboard for her to see, "Do you know what was on this clipboard?"

She shook her head and shrugged.

Dean sighed and continued his search, a little disappointed that there still wasn't much to go on. Just then his cell phone rang and when he checked the caller id, he knew it was Sam.

"Hey, what's up?" Dean said into the receiver.

Sam's voice sounded excited on the other end, "I found something."

"Good, me too. You first," Dean said, but Sam interrupted him.

"We'll meet you back at the house," And then he hung up.

Dean shook his head and shoved his cell phone into his pocket, already heading for the doors of the church.

"Where are you-" Amber called.

"Your house. My brother will explain when we get there." And it better be good.


	7. Chapter 7

**GUESS WHAT?! I STILL do not own Sam and Dean Winchester.**

SEVEN

Sam paced the length of carpet in front of the window for a half-hour before Dean showed up at the Martin house, with Amber and Tana on his heels. Claire had prepared a salad and mini sandwiches for lunch, which Sam insisted was totally unnecessary, but she protested because she said her family ate everyday at this time. Sam couldn't argue with that, but he had to remind himself to tell Dean not to go crazy with the food.

There was the knock, but Sam was already there, opening the door and letting the group inside. When he and Claire had arrived back at the house, Marina and Rose had already come home. So the whole army was there, basically. They congregated in the kitchen, where they brought three extra chairs to the table so everyone could sit.

Sam thought it was a little weird that they had to pull up a chair for Tana to sit, along with them, but he let that pass. He did notice that Tana sat beside his brother. Dean didn't seem to find it all that strange though. He just sat and helped himself to a sandwich.

"So, you said you found something, something important?"

Dean swallowed and pointed a finger at Sam, "You called me. You go first."

"Alright," Sam looked around the table. Six eager faces stared back at him. "Claire and I went to the library this morning, as you probably know, and we found that symbol that was carved into the foreheads of that couple in the park. Now, before you get all excited to go dig up a body or something-" Dean smirked at this, but all the girls in the room wrinkled their noses in disgust, "that's where the interesting information comes in."

He paused for dramatic effect. Dean didn't seem to appreciate it as much as the others; he waved his arms around empathically when he couldn't speak because his mouth was full of bread.

"Fine," Sam huffed, "The symbol belongs to a cult that started way back when they still believed in animal sacrifice and human sacrifice, for that matter."

"So, a long time ago?" Dean asked just to clarify.

"Yes, Dean, a few hundred years ago. The thing is, that symbol was what they used to symbolize their superiority to others. It was an honour to wear it." Claire and Sam exchanged a glance.

Dean cut in, frustrated with all the pausing, "So, there are some descendants of this cult living here who want others to know that they're superior to everyone else? So, the Hitler family then?"

Sam shook his head with a small smile, "Actually, after we found that out we checked the blood lines and it looks like the Sparks family are almost directly linked to the first members of the cult. Talk about your coincidences." Claire and Sam smiled at each other, but Dean gagged. He was very testy today.

"How can someone be almost directly related to someone?"

"If you must know, they are the second cousins of the first members, but that doesn't matter. Then we looked up the article in the newspaper again, with the deaths of the couple in the park. You want to guess the names or shall I just tell you?"

"Just tell us,"

"Burt and Julie Sparks."

That caught the table off-guard. Dean almost dropped his lunch.

"Wait," He held up his free hand, "They killed their own family to maintain their superiority?"

Sam shook his head, "No, according to early recordings of the cult, in order to 'maintain their superiority', as you put it, the ritual sacrifice has to be two willing hosts, one girl and one boy. Who's more willing to die for their family name than members of the family?"

Dean cringed, "So Burt and Julie carved the symbol on their own foreheads and died for money that they don't even get to see?"

The younger Winchester looked just as confused about the concept, "Looks like. I don't understand it either, but they're not hurting anyone else. It's just money and they are willing sacrifices..." He trailed off.

"Oh no," Dean tilted his head towards his brother slightly and narrowed his eyes, "You're not suggesting that we leave them be?"

"Well," Sam shrugged, "according to the book we found all this in, they only do it once every thirteen years and it's kind of their business if they're doing it willingly, isn't it?"

Dean thought for a moment and then sighed, "Okay...fine. I see your point. There's nothing we can do. Some people are just crazy. At least they've got money." He looked like he wanted to say something else, but stopped with his mouth hanging open and then clamped it shut and looked towards the ceiling, deep in thought.

"What?"

"Oh," Dean smiled as he came back to the table, "I was just thinking. What happens when they run out of family members?"

Sam chuckled. The group at the table all laughed and the tension in the air suddenly calmed and became more relaxed. Even Tana laughed, which surprised her sisters and Sam. Dean turned to smile at her, but the rest of the table, minus Sam, were exchanging guilty glances.

"Alright," Dean turned back to the table and looked around at all the faces, "I guess it's our turn then now that we've got one symbol down. Amber, Tana and I went to the church this morning, where the priest died."

"Father Kevin," Claire interrupted and put her elbows on the table to hold her head up with her hands.

"Right," Dean nodded, "So we know that the symbol that was found on him was on some kind of motel stationary, but we don't know what motel." He turned to Amber for confirmation and she nodded solemnly. "The symbol looks like this." He put the drawing Tana had made on the middle of the table.

"You should've called earlier," Sam said, eyeing the drawing, "We could've looked this up."

"No need, we already know what it means."

Amber took a deep breath and looked to her sisters, "It's the symbol mom told us represents us, the elements."

"Well, we know that," Marina chuckled nervously, "But why's there a line through it?"

"It's a threat," Claire sat up quickly, "Why didn't you tell us about this, Amber; you were there when they found this. You must've seen it."

Amber was about to argue back, but Dean held up his hands, "Now's not a good time for fighting, guys- or girls...but she didn't tell you because she didn't want to believe this was a threat. Tell me any of you would've seen this and wouldn't have been scared?"

The table fell to silence. Claire gave Amber one last scornful look and then turned to Sam, "What do we do? Someone's after us, but why on earth would they kill Father Kevin?"

Sam shrugged, "Maybe because he didn't tell whoever it was what they wanted to hear."

"Yeah, but listen to this," Dean leaned over the table a little and addressed Sam, "Cause of death: his brain liquefied. That doesn't sound normal does it?"

"Not even a little," Sam agreed.

"So what? A demon?" Marina cut in. Her green eyes turned to her sisters. All five pairs of eyes reflected fear, not that any of them bothered to look at Tana. She didn't have any powers so why did she have to be scared?

"What do we do?" Claire turned to Sam again.

Sam shook his head slowly, "Until we know which demon did this and what they want, I don't really know how to answer that question. You girls should probably stay in until we know, stick together. You're more powerful that way."

More than one pair of eyes watered then, but they blinked back tears and put on their brave faces. They nodded in unison. That was when Tana got up, her chair making a loud scratching noise on the floor, and left the room. In the silence they could all hear the sound of her feet pounding up the stairs and the creak of her door, the slam when it shut behind her.

"Okay," Sam got up too, "Dean and I will take care of this. Don't worry. Just stay here and watch out each other. Don't leave the house."

"Wait," Claire stood and took Sam's hand, "Stay here. Please, I don't want anything to happen to them."

Sam looked into her eyes and saw the concern for her family, but he also saw her own fear. She wanted him there for protection. For herself. He was tempted to say yes, but he caught Dean's expression and knew that if they wanted to get anything done, they needed to get out there and do what they did best.

"I'm sorry; I have to go deal with this. You'll be okay. You've got your powers and we'll even help you salt line all the doors and windows before we leave."

"I'll draw a devil's trap over the living room if you want," Dean suggested, standing up as well. The remaining sisters around the table did the same.

"Better put it under the carpet," Sam countered.

Dean nodded and headed outside to where his Impala was parked curb-side.

They spent the next hour doing everything they could to demon-proof the house and reassure Claire and her sisters that they'd be safe if they stayed inside. So Marina and Amber called work and took their vacation days, Claire owned a small, but thriving, wind-chime shop downtown (everyone thought that the sounds they made were amazing, they always seemed to be moving and making music in the wind) so she would just close shop until further notice. Rose called her boyfriend and told him she had a family emergency to deal with and wouldn't be able to see him for a while.

Everything was set and all that was left was for Sam and Dean to find the actual demon responsible. Sam said a reluctant good-bye to Claire and Dean even seemed to be growing fond of the family flirt, Amber. They exchanged knowing smiles and he said something about a hairdryer to Claire, which Sam didn't understand, and then Claire clutched Sam's hand for the last time, before he and his brother were off in the Impala, back to the motel.

"Dude," Sam turned to his brother once they were about a block away, "What's with Amber? She seemed almost-"

"Normal?" Dean smiled, "Yeah, that's what I thought too. She's a firefighter." He laughed and Sam cracked a smile, but then Dean grew serious, "I'm kinda sad that I didn't get to say good bye to Tana though. Did you remind Claire to set up the salt lines in her room when she lets them in?"

Sam nodded and the rest of the ride was silent.

Back at the motel, Dean wanted to take a shower, he said he felt pink, and Sam opened his laptop to start searching for something, anything, that might help the hunt. The first thing that popped up was a little bubble on the bottom right corner of the screen. "You've got Mail".

Sam wasted a second being confused, not many people sent him emails, so he clicked on it and opened it despite the fact that he didn't recognize the address that'd sent him the message.

The message read, in light blue, "I miss you already." It wasn't signed, but Sam smiled, assuming that it was Claire. He emailed a reply. Short and simple, "Hang in there. We're working on it."

"Try the cemetery. All sorts of creeps hang out there." Was the answer he got back and then Dean stepped out of the bathroom and grabbed the bag he'd previously stuffed his shotgun and other such weapons in.

"So, where to now?"

Sam closed his laptop, "The cemetery."

In a matter of minutes, the Winchesters were back in the Impala headed off to the cemetery, ten miles away from civilization as the Martin sisters sat in their living room under the devil's trap, not daring to move.

"You think they're going to get the thing?" Amber asked, nervously. She'd drawn the curtains closed earlier, but she still kept glancing towards them as if she could see through them.

"I don't know," Claire shrugged. She looked over her shoulder to the stairs. Tana was still upstairs and refused to come out or come sit downstairs in the living room with them, where they'd been since Sam and Dean had left. None of them had done anything but sit there.

I really hope they know what they're doing, Claire thought as she curled into an even smaller ball on the couch.


	8. Chapter 8

**So I talked to Eric Kripke and he said that I could have Sam and Dean...Oh wait...that was a dream...never mind**

EIGHT

Night had already fallen when Sam and Dean and the trusty Impala rolled into the cemetery. There were giant black gates out front that were locked, as fate would have it, but the brothers weren't worried about that. Dean was actually more worried about leaving his car out front all alone and unprotected while they checked out the inside for...what? They didn't know.

Sam hadn't even told Dean what they were doing there, just that they may find something there. Dead things hung out in cemeteries. They may find their demon. Dean had scoffed, but he figured running the place over with the EMF meter didn't sound like a bad idea.

And so the brothers climbed the fence into the cemetery, Sam armed with a shotgun filled with their favourite condiment, and Dean with his EMF meter in hand, which was still working perfectly despite its beat up exterior, thank you very much.

"Sam," Dean called to his brother as they were sweeping the fourteenth row of tombstones. They'd been silent up until now and hadn't run into anyone, so Dean figured that it was safe to talk.

Sam jogged over and stopped at his brother's side, eyeing the EMF meter, "Did you find something?"

Dean shook his head, "Just wanted to ask you something. Despite Claire, what do you think about Tana?" Sam looked confused, so Dean explained, "I just get the feeling that there's something those sisters aren't telling us about her. Something that we should know, doesn't it feel like there's a piece of the puzzle here that just doesn't fit."

"A lot of them are still missing," Sam responded thoughtfully, "But I think you're right. I think something happened that they don't want us to know about, but I also think that's it a family thing. We don't need to know, it's none of our business."

"The family business is our business now," Dean pointed out, moving on to the next row, "This has everything to do with being elementals and it sounds like that's what this family grew up on, except for Tana. What must that have been like?"

"You think she didn't get enough hugs growing up?"

"It's more than that," Dean snapped, silencing Sam's dark chuckle.

"Alright," Sam held up his hands in defeat, "Maybe something did happen, and I feel bad for her, but what are we supposed to do about it? We don't even know the girl."

Dean was silent as he continued sweeping and finding nothing, but his mind was elsewhere.

"Why do you care so much?" Sam asked softly. He stopped walking and let Dean continue ahead a few steps. After a pause, Dean turned around to face his brother. His serious face was on; his green eyes even looked a little watery, although he'd never cry over it in front of his brother.

"Maybe I know how she feels."

"You were never mute, I mean, I wished you might stop talking but-"

"No one listened," Dean continued, "It's one thing to hear, it's a total other thing to listen to someone."

"What's this about? Dad?"

Dean shook his head and turned around again. This time Sam followed.

"It is, isn't it? It's because you think I was the favourite and now seeing this Tana girl is making you remember all those nasty childhood memories."

Dean whirled on his brother, "You were the favourite! Dad doted on you, I was just the soldier and this isn't about me. It's about the way they're treating Tana. Or the way they treated her."

Sam shook his head in confusion, "They didn't even tell us how they treated her, the most they said was that they weren't nice to her. Every family teases, hell you teased me so much that I wanted to stop talking sometimes too."

At that, Dean looked away, "Well...I'm sorry for that. No one deserves that." A pause. "Amber told me that Tana was really disappointed in herself when she didn't have powers, but more than that, their mother was."

"And you think her mother's disappointment has something to do with this?"

"Maybe, it's just a feeling I got when I talked to her-"

"You talked with Tana?" Sam looked taken aback.

The corners of Dean's mouth turned up in a smile, "I talked to Tana and it was just this feeling I got from her. And, I don't know. You know that saying that's like 'when you lose one sense the other ones get better'?"

"Yeah,"

"I think her eyes speak for her," Dean said and Sam was about to laugh, when he saw the totally serious look on his brother's face, "She knows things. If you would just look at her for a second, look into her eyes and really....listen you'd know what she wanted. Her sisters don't seem to know that."

"And?"

"And, just like no one listened, no one sees her."

Sam took a deep breath and took it all in, "Wow, you've really thought about this."

"It just," Dean paused to think of an appropriate word, "bugs me."

The older Winchester pocketed the EMF meter and gestured around the cemetery in the silence that followed, "There's nothing here. Let's go."

As they walked back to the Impala Dean could tell that Sam was mulling over what he'd said. At least know he knew how Dean felt and that he was serious about it. The look on his face said that he wasn't going to make fun of his older brother anymore.

Just as they were approaching the gate, Sam's face contorted into a look of confusion, "What do you mean despite Claire?"

Dean smirked. He couldn't believe it had taken Sam this long to figure out something he'd said so long ago. He didn't answer for a moment letting Sam take it whichever way he wanted. Then his phone rang in his pocket. The brothers paused at the gates so that Dean could pull it out and look at the caller id. He didn't recognize the number so he flipped it open and adopted an accent.

"Hello?"

"Hi...um...I'm looking for Dean Winchester," came a female voice on the other end.

It sounded familiar, but Dean had to make sure, "Who is this?"

"It's Claire, Claire Martin."

"Ah," Dean dropped the accent, "This is the handsome devil himself. What's up, Claire?"

"Tana's gone."

"What?!"

Sam gave Dean a questioning look, but Dean waved a dismissive hand in his direction. He had to find out what was happening first.

Claire's voice was frantic on the other end, "We were just sitting here in our living room and Tana still hadn't come out of her room. She was being quiet, but she always is. We finally went to check on her and she just wasn't there! The window is open and I found your number on a napkin on her night stand."

"Okay," Dean quickly walked the rest of the way to the gate and motioned for Sam to climb over. His little brother obeyed although he was giving Dean a look the whole time. "Don't move; we'll be right over."

About a half hour later, the Winchesters were back at the Martin house for the third time that day, this time they were in Tana's room. It was small with a single bed, a stool beside it (which Dean assumed was the so-called night stand), a box at the foot of the bed and a dresser opposite.

"How long exactly did you wait before you checked on her?" Dean tried to keep the accusation out of his voice as he said it. The sisters in the room already looked guilty enough.

Claire stammered a little before getting out, "We were sitting in the living room for...well, ever since you left our house-"

Sam cut in suddenly, "You didn't go on the computer?"

Claire gave him a look, like it wasn't the time to be talking about what they did with their free time, "No Sam, I didn't go on the computer. We don't have one. That's why I mentioned internet when we went to the library. Why?"

Sam sighed and brought a hand to his face, "Never mind. It's not important right now."

"Okay," Dean claimed Claire's attention again, "so we don't know how long she's been gone for. And you obviously didn't put up the salt lines. So the demon might have her; he might be holding her ransom."

Rose burst into sobs and Marina threw her arms around her. Amber moved into the huddle and Claire instinctively grabbed for Sam's hand.

"What would the demon want with her?" Claire asked her eyes wide, with confusion on her face, "She doesn't even have a power."

"Maybe he's just trying to piss us off," Amber suggested quietly from the back of the huddle.

Claire shook her head, "That makes no sense. He wants us, he wants our powers, why take her? She's got nothing do to with this."

Dean was annoyed by the tone in Claire's voice. Something about it struck him as if she was more offended that the demon had taken her sister instead of worried.

"Amber's right," Sam looked down at Claire, "even if he wants you, he'll use those you love to get to you. It could be a trap. He wants you to go after her."

"How are we supposed to know where to go?" Marina glanced around the room frantically, edging on panic, "He didn't leave any clues!"

"We'll never see her again," Rose sobbed.

Dean rolled his eyes, but Sam jumped in quickly.

"Or," everyone looked to Sam holding their breaths, "maybe she climbed out the window on her own."

They seemed even more upset over that option even though, in the Winchester's opinion, the thought that she'd left on her own was much better, if not for the fact that she was now probably wandering aimlessly on her own in the dark while there was a demon after her family.

"If that's the case we've got to bring her back before she can wander too far. Any idea where she'd go?" Dean asked, addressing the group of huddling sisters.

All four were silent now, even Rose, who had mascara tears running down her face. They exchanged glances.

Dean had never seen their faces any more guilty. In all the time they'd spent here he knew that they were keeping something from him and his brother, but he never thought that they'd hesitate when their sister was in danger.

"There's something you're not telling us," Dean said angrily and took a few steps forward, crossing his arms over his chest. Sam freed his hand from Claire's and went to stand with his brother, a clear action symbolizing that he was now on Dean's side.

"Tell us or you might not see Tana again," Sam demanded, his face was just as serious as the tone which he used, "If it's important we need to know."

Marina took a deep breath, exchanged one last glance with Amber, who nodded, and then started to speak, but Claire turned and snapped before she could say anything.

"Marina! You will not discuss family matters with these strangers."

Marina looked startled that her older sister would yell at her. It looked like she was going to crack on resolve, but then she stepped forward and looked Claire straight in the eye. Thunder clapped suddenly and Dean jumped.

"These men weren't strangers the moment they started caring about Tana. We made a mistake with her and then it was too late, I won't let that happen again."

Claire's eyes glittered with malice as Marina walked past her to speak directly with the brothers.

Marina took another deep breath, but she couldn't look at them, "There's something you should know about Tana's past; our past."

All the while, a thunderstorm raged outside the open window.


	9. Chapter 9

**does anyone else get tried of writing the same thing over and over? I do not own Sam and Dean**

NINE

"What is it?" Dean asked impatiently when Marina stopped to clear her throat, as if unsure if she should go on with the story or not. Claire was clearly unhappy with the situation, she kept darting her eyes angrily back and forth between the Winchesters, on one side of the room, to her sisters, on the other, while she herself perched on the edge of Tana's bed.

"When Tana was little, like we explained before, she wasn't treated right," Marina finally started. It sounded like the whole story was about to come out, so the brothers braced themselves for the worst.

"The rest of us come into our powers when we were all around the age of fourteen, we weren't all the same age obviously, but Amber was the youngest at the time and she was twelve. It came around the time when we were all going through...well, natural chances too. Tana was just turning six then. Mom was so proud of us, she doted on us. She bought us gifts to celebrate and took us out places to show us off to her friends, and she brought Tana because she thought Tana had powers too. She helped us develop our gifts and in a matter of weeks we'd all learned how to control them, which was a miracle, mom said. But that was also about around the time when she figured out that Tana didn't have any powers. Tana knew it before she did. She'd whine and complain to us, but we were too busy focusing on our own powers that we didn't have time to think about her. She was so young too; we didn't want to be seen with her. You know how teenagers are."

Dean nodded and Marina continued.

"Tana practised so hard, she did whatever mom told her to do, even when Mom got rough Tana would do whatever she said. Mom practically tried to force powers on her, but – nothing. Mom was so disappointed in her. But she kept getting the four of us gifts every time we learned something new and she took us out places to practice...marine land" – Marina smiled remembering, but then became solemn again – "Tana never got anything but anger and disappointment. Our parents didn't hide those discussions about what they were going to do with her and what use she was. They'd talk about it at the dinner table and that was around when Tana started to get quieter. She tried to talk to us many times while this was happening, but we were just too busy. Too important, we thought, I guess, to deal with her. One night-"

Here she paused to take a deep breath and Rose started sobbing again, so the Winchesters guessed that the worst was coming, worse than what they'd already been told.

A girl who was openly ignored and discriminated against in her own family. She must've felt like the biggest failure in the world. Suddenly, going mute started to make much more sense.

"One night," Marina reiterated, speaking through the obvious closing of her throat as she held back tears, "I guess mom and dad had been hard on her, more than usual. They were just frustrated because Tana wasn't what they were used to, even Dad who didn't even have any powers. She came to us, hurt and crying. I don't know what they did to her but she was broken up. She'd finally cracked and when she came to talk to us, excepting us to do something about it-"

Her voice cracked and she trailed off, but Dean could guess where this was going, "You didn't do anything." The room was eerily silent then. "_None_ of you did _anything_."

The three girls standing opposite Sam and Dean hung their heads in shame, but Claire stood up and pushed Marina back gently to take her place facing Dean.

"She was supposed to get over it. When things went wrong and we got yelled at, we had to deal with it too. What were we supposed to do? Use our powers on our parents? Instead, she got weaker and weaker, until-" Claire was cut off when Marina started in on the story again.

"She ran away! One night when she was eight, she ran away! No one knew where she went or why she went, but four days later we got a call from someone down the street saying that their son had taken her in and hidden her in his room. His mother had just found her, I guess, and she was sending Tana home." Marina fell silent.

Claire looked too angry to speak.

Amber stepped forward as Rose continued to sob in the background, "When she came back, she never talked again."

That was it then. The whole room felt like a void of sound. Not even a pin dropped. Rose's sobs had reduced to silence as she broke down and kneeled to the floor. Dean couldn't hear anything. He wasn't sure if it was just him or if the room was actually this silent.

After an instant, he started to hear a high-pitched ringing in his ears.

Sam broke the silence, "Whose house did she go to when she ran away nine years ago?"

"A friend of hers," Amber said quietly, when Marina couldn't respond, she too was on the verge of breaking down. Too much was happening too soon. "I didn't even know they were close, even when she spoke I never saw her speak to anyone outside the family. His name was Danny. I don't even know if he still lives at that house anymore."

Amber gave the brothers the family name and the address and they left without saying anything else.

Sam and Dean walked the distance from the Martin house over to the residence four doors down. The house was the same model as the one they'd just left, but this one had red paneling and darker red window frames. Even so, it looked much more cheery than the Martin house, or maybe that was just perspective taking its toll.

As they neared the front door, Dean thought to himself, so this is her sanctuary. He was glad that she'd had someone to run to. If it'd been him, he didn't know what he would've done. He'd had some bad experiences in his life but never had his dad actually hurt him. He wondered what her parents had really done to her that night.

Sam rang the doorbell.

This close to the window to their left, they could see that a light was on and they could hear the laughter coming from the inside. One of the voices sounded like Tana's.

A moment later, after the bell had been rung, the laughter stopped and all was silent for a moment. There were whispers, which neither Sam nor Dean could make out, and then a scuffling noise and a teenage boy opened the door slowly.

He had black hair with long side bangs that covered his left eye and his eyes were a bright blue. He was certainly peculiar looking, with his skinny jeans and a tight pink and black shirt, but the Winchesters had to assume that this was Danny, Tana's one and only friend, according to her sisters.

"Hello?" The boy sounded a bit frightened of the tall men filling up his doorway, but the brothers tried to stay calm and appear easy and friendly so he wouldn't freak out and close the doors on them. It was late after all.

"Are you Danny Waldorf?"

"Um, yeah..., what do you want?"

"Hi, I'm Dean and this is my brother Sam. We're looking for someone, someone we were told we might find here. Tana Martin. You know her?"

Danny waited a moment, looked as if he was about to glance over his shoulder, but stopped at the last second, as if he knew that once he did, there'd be no hiding it from them.

"I don't know who you're talking about."

Dean was about to get authoritative on the boy when suddenly there came a voice from the living room.

"Danny? Who is it? You're missing Charmed,"

The older Winchester paused in disbelief, then pushed past Danny, who yelped in alarm, and strode into the living room. Sam followed and there they found Tana, sitting with her feet up on the coffee table, lounging on a mint green couch in front of a small television. She looked startled to see them there and quickly swung her legs off the table.

"What are you doi-" She clapped a hand over her mouth and her eyes widened.

Dean stared at her a moment longer, admittedly feeling a little betrayed, and then turned to Sam, "Well, I guess mute isn't all it's made out to be anymore."

Tana let her pale hand drop to her lap limply, "I can explain."

"You sure as hell better explain this," Dean turned back to her, angry but trying to remain indifferent, she was just a kid after all, who'd been through a hard time. There must be a good explanation for all this, Dean thought to himself. He sat down in a mint chair opposite the couch. Sam sat on the arm.

Tana sighed. Danny had already closed the door behind their unwanted visitors and walked into the living room to sit next to Tana. He took her hand. She barely even noticed, looking at the floor. Her cheeks glowed red.

"When I was eight I ran away-"

"We know that," Dean interrupted, "Why did you?"

"Because, I was sick of being told that I wasn't what my parents wanted and why couldn't I be like my sisters. I couldn't help it. I couldn't help that I wasn't born with powers."

Both Sam and Dean glanced to Danny when she said it, but he didn't flinch or anything so they figured that he already knew everything. From the way he looked at her sympathetically, they guessed they were probably right in thinking that.

Tana continued, "If you had any idea how many times they tried to force powers on me or out of me until it actually hurt to try, you'd understand why I had to get away. No one could help me there, no one loved me there, but Danny's family-" She turned to smile at him, and placed one of her hands on his, "They were always nice to me. They treated me like family. A real family. They let me stay here for a while, they didn't even tell my parents until they felt it was time for me to go home."

"And then you stopped talking," Dean said. Tana nodded. "Why?"

"You explained it yourself," Tana smiled at him, "You were the first outsider to speak to me, to see me as a person since Danny. To be heard and to be listened to are two completely different things, you understand that. No one ever listened to what I had to say at my house. It was always elements this and powers that. Good job Claire, you moved the salt shaker one inch to the left. Excellent Rose, now could you just grow another pink tulip right there, that'd be great, thanks." The sarcasm dripped from her voice as she said it. She laughed bitterly.

It was the first time that Dean saw any negative emotion in her and it shocked him.

"When I got home I thought things would be different, but they were worse. Not only did no one listen even now that I was mute, no one cared. No one saw me anymore. I just...faded into the background," Now her voice got softer, more sad than angry. Just as it came however her mood changed again, "Then, as we grew older and our parents went away to the nursing home, it was just me and them. They still thought they were superior, but little by little as they grew more mature I could see it in their eyes every time I came into the room."

Tana smiled, "They were guilty."

Dean narrowed his eyes a little, but continued to listen without a word.

"You have no idea how good that felt. Suddenly, I was making an impact on them! Suddenly every time I entered the room they would feel lower than me, instead of the other way around. I didn't plan to stop talking to them for so long, but when they started to care because they felt bad, I felt so much better. Now I have something over them," She grinned with glee. Danny grinned with her.

Sam shook his head, "You have to know that's wrong."

"I do, I know it was wrong and I know that you guys must be pretty mad at me, but I never meant to hurt you, Dean. I like you guys; I've got nothing against you."

Dean's anger softened, but then took a deep breath and told her what she didn't want to hear, "You know you have to go back and apologize to them for nine years of silence, right?"

Tana narrowed her eyes, "I will when they apologize for many years of pure torture when I was growing up."

"They want to," Sam said earnestly.

Tana looked sceptical and puzzled, "They want to." She repeated.

"Well, Marina, Rose and Amber do..." Sam added sheepishly.

Tana huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, "Claire," She said with a scowl, "She was the worst. Always trying to bully me with her powers, but it never worked."

Dean saw Sam pause. He had light-bulb face on, "Wait. Her powers didn't work on you?"

"Nope. They always worked on mom and dad, or if she was angry at Rina, Rose or Amber, but never on me. She tried though. Oh, she tried." Tana smiled defiantly.

Suddenly Sam stood and turned to Dean and then Tana in turn, "We have to get you home. I just thought of something."

"I don't want to go home," Tana stood, her arms still crossed over her chest.

"Please, Tana, I think I might have the solution to all your problems,"

When Tana looked interested, she was about to step forward, but Danny grabbed her arm and stared daggers at the Winchester brothers. They were surprised, but even worse was when his eyes turned black.

"Tana's not going anywhere."


	10. Chapter 10

**Sad. This is the last disclaimer I will ever write on this story. Enjoy the last chapter and I DO NOT own Sam and Dean...but I will. Oh I will. :) **

TEN

Tana screamed; a shrill sound that could've set off all the dogs in the neighbourhood. As it was, no one, not even a dog, came running.

"Let me go! Danny!" Tana screamed, waving her arm around, trying to loosen his grip on her, but the most he did was smile in amusement and his eyes flipped back to Danny's blue ones, all traces of the small and scared boy gone. Then again, he wasn't Danny anymore.

"Why are you doing this?" Tana continued.

Sam and Dean weren't panicking, but stayed still, watching the demon possessing Danny carefully. They knew enough that if they made any sudden moves it might be over for Tana, but she didn't realize why they weren't coming to her aide and she screamed some more before Danny swung her into him by her arm and clamped his free hand over her mouth.

Her screams muffled, and her eyes widened, but the action made her rethink the screaming and soon she'd stopped. Still, as frightened, but less noisy.

"Figures," Dean mumbled under his breath.

"What'd you say?" Danny turned his gaze on the older Winchester.

Dean raised his head, giving the demon a look that said he wasn't afraid, although in his mind he was cursing himself for leaving his shotgun in the car, "I said figures. It figures that the one person she happens to talk to is the bad guy."

Danny smiled wider and bowed down then stood back up straight, "It does 'figure' then, doesn't it? And you must be the Winchesters. Boy, the things I've heard about you, I should write a book, then again that might be copyright."

"You wouldn't be the first one, actually," Sam rolled his eyes.

By now Dean had come to a conclusion, "You killed Father Kevin."

"Was that his name? Oh, I'll remember to put that on my resume. Now, who's next, you, him, or Tana?" Danny looked to each one of them as he said it, but his gaze rested on Tana. If it was possible his smile became wider.

"What do you want with her?" Dean called out, if only to distract him from getting any ideas. He started to edge around the coffee table, but Danny grabbed her neck in threat and Dean held up his hands, stopping mid-step. Danny's hand loosened, "It's her sisters that you're after."

Danny laughed, it was an ominous sound, "Oh, certainly not. You think I would've actually taken the time to befriend this little twit if I was after her sisters? They're even stupider than she is."

"Why do you want her then?" Sam asked. Dean thought he said it like he already knew the answer.

"Obviously, you didn't get the memo, but I'll fill you in and you can come to the next convention next time we're in town. See, I'm part of a faction of demons, we call ourselves the collectioners, catchy, ain't it?" Danny laughed, "Every year we have a contest, you may know that us demons can steal a witch's power by killing them. Well, that's true. The demon who wins the contest is the one who comes back home with the best power of all.

"I don't even have powers," Tana gulped and held back the hand that was still hovering over her neck. Danny wasn't moving it though, just hovering it there to remind them all not to do anything hero-like.

However, Danny wasn't paying attention to Tana anymore. He was narrowing his eyes at Sam, who looked deep in thought and was watching Tana carefully.

"You've got it; I can hear those gears turning. Why don't you tell us why I want precious little Tana?"

"She does have a power," Sam said slowly.

"Yes, the best power of all," Danny had a fit of giggles, threw his head back and laughed. Sam, Dean and Tana waited for whatever came next, "The girl is a witch and I am going to win the contest and I'll be set for the rest of my life. I won't have to worry about another threat like you as long as I live." Danny's hand traced a line down her throat and Tana whimpered.

"I have no power," She managed to get out.

"That's because," He paused dramatically, "Your power is no power."

The others looked confused, except for Sam, who looked as if he suddenly understood everything. His hunch had been right. Dean wished his brother would explain, but he didn't have to. The demon, who thought he was about to win, explained himself triumphantly.

"No power...works on you." He said as if that made any sense at all, but the way he worded it confused his audience even more. He rolled his eyes and said more quickly, "No power works on you."

"Deflection," Sam said out loud, "Claire told me about it, I don't know why she didn't see it. It's a passive power, Tana, so you can't really use it. Just others can't use their powers on you. Like when Claire tried."

This made sense now, Dean thought, but he couldn't help thinking what if Claire had known all along?

Tana's eyes widened, "I'm a witch?"

"That's right," Danny nodded, "And with your power none of your witchy friends can hurt me again. No devil's trap will stop me because that's magic. No colt can harm me, no knife, you know why? Because that's all magic! Your power will keep me alive nice and long. You can feel good knowing at least that I'll use it well."

His hand was reaching for Tana's throat again, but Sam interrupted, making Danny pause again.

"But why kill a priest? Why leave the symbol behind for them to find?"

Danny grunted, "I was bored, I needed a way to set the ball in motion, if you will. A reason for Tana to run away from her sisters again. Until I have that power I don't stand a chance against them, see I don't have any powers. Just this." With a flick of his hand, Sam and Dean were experiencing what they had with many demons before: they were flung against the wall and held there, feet hovering over the ground.

With that he continued, "And what luck, then you entered the story, things got complicated and all-in-all it came to this. Isn't fate grand? And your sisters? Lovely, of course they played their part well. They've always been so selfish haven't they? They think the world revolves around them, isn't that what you said?" Danny directed his attention to Tana again.

Tana looked devastated. She'd endangered her sisters by telling the one person she'd thought she could trust about their family secret and now he was using it against her, to hurt her. To prove to her that there wasn't a thing she could do to save herself and confirming once and for all that her sisters just didn't listen.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this gift," Danny looked pleased with himself as he grabbed Tana around the neck and squeezed. She gasped but could find no breath.

Sam and Dean struggled and yelled, but they couldn't remove themselves from the wall they were held against. They could do nothing but watch as Tana's lips turned a sickly shade of purple and her eyes glossed over.

Suddenly, the house began to shake, and not little trembling, but twister type activity. The house rocked on its foundation. Pictures fell off the walls, Danny lost his grip and stumbled backwards, Tana fell to the floor. The door blew right off its hinges, and down the hall.

In stepped Claire and, like it was nothing at all, she lifted a hand and Danny flew backwards, then fell to the floor.

"I can do that too," She announced, as the wall renounced its hold on the Winchester brothers and their feet touched the ground once more.

Her sisters ran in after her, wet from the storm that was now raging outside. Amber's hands glowed red, like the coals of a fire, as she stared at Danny, standing up slowly from where he'd fallen, and boy did he look angry.

"Sam! Dean!" Marina called from their left and they both turned on time to catch their shotguns being thrown to them. Dean cocked and aimed, but Sam held out a hand.

"No, the boy," he protested. Danny was still in there somewhere.

Instead of the shotgun, Sam raised an arm and closed his eyes.

Dean ran over to Tana and shielded her with his body. Over his shoulder he addressed the sisters, "If I were you, I'd stand back."

Claire eyed Sam like he was crazy, but stepped back with the other girls as it happened. Danny was smiling wildly one moment, as if he thought this was still going to turn out in his favour, but then he started to gag like there was something caught in his throat. It became more serious the more clenched Sam's eyes became. His hand and arm started to shake in his concentration.

Danny coughed and sputtered, but seemed to be trying not to throw up. Claire was about to ask, but Danny finally turned his head to the sky and yelled the ever popular phrase as the bad guy went down, "NOOOO!!"

A spiral of black smoke shot out of his mouth and into the ceiling where it dissipated in a flash of blinding light and when everyone opened their eyes again, Danny was on the floor and Sam had blood dripping out of his nose, but was otherwise normal looking again.

When it was all over, Tana ran from the cover of Dean's shield to Danny's lip body, "Danny! Danny! Is he alive?" She asked Sam.

Three of her sisters stared at her in shock, some of them even gasped out loud. Claire just crossed her arms over her chest.

Danny groaned. Sam gave Tana a small smile, "I think he'll be okay."

"Will he remember any of this?"

"Maybe," Sam shrugged.

Marina pushed past him and knelt by her youngest sister, "You can talk."

"Of course she can," Claire said, rolling her eyes, but it was more affectionate than accusing.

"You knew?" Tana asked timidly. Marina, Rose and Amber all looked as if they'd faint whenever their youngest sister uttered a syllable.

Claire nodded, "Just like I knew you were like us, a witch."

Tana huffed and stood to face her, "Why didn't you say something?"

"Because I was guilty as hell. Guiltier than mom and dad, and more than anyone here I'm to blame and I know it," Claire shrugged, her eyes watery, "And I was jealous. I mean this-" She gestured around the room, "was the most meaningful thing that I've ever used my powers for. Every stupid thing we did mom and dad rewarded us for, but you didn't have to do anything and you were using your power before any of us even knew we had ours. It doesn't take a genius to see that your power is the best out of anyone here. Although, Sam's kind freaks me out more."

She eyed Sam with the same look she'd given him when they first met at the restaurant, as if she was seeing him for the first time all over again. Sam smiled back.

"Either way," Claire turned back to Tana and smiled kindly, "We were all raised wrong. I'm not disregarding anything that happened to you because you had it worst, but we were raised thinking that these powers made us special. We thought they were like rights, but they were gifts. They don't make us any better than anyone else."

Marina nodded from where she still knelt with Danny. He was slowly stirring, flexing his hands and twitching his muscles. At least he knew that he was still all in one piece. No one spoke as he sat up, with Marina's help, and held his head.

He groaned, "What happened?"

Tana smiled. The last two days had been a blur, but she was certain that things were about to get a whole lot better in her life. Dean winked at her as she turned to smile at the group in the destroyed living room. Much better.

END


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